Stress and Fight or Fright Reaction
Lets look at three different scenarios.
A sales rep is having a difficult time during the recession. The last three months sales were disastrous. He is due to meet a big and important new client who could be his saviour. The ouicome will decide whether he still has a job or not.
A man is madly and desperately in love with this popular and attractive female. He cannot see a future without her but there are other men trying to attract her attention. The table is set for two, the ring is in his hand and the red roses lie near by. She is due any minute and he will propose to her and he does not know whether she will say yes or no.
A woman walking home alone late at night. The street is dimly lit. Suddenly she hears footsteps ahead of her. She can see a group of people wearing hoodies walking towards her. She now hears footsteps behind her. Turning around, she sees some young people walking towards her.
In all three situations a person becomes very alert and focussed even though potential danger is only in one of these scenarios. This is the fight and fright reaction.
This is a reaction in humans and animals that developed a long time ago to protect us from life threatening dangers. In this reaction, the brain triggers the release of the hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisone.These hormones cause a remarkable change in the body.
The heart rate speeds up, the breathing become faster and deeper, the mouth becomes dry, the pupils dilate, skin becomes cold and clammy and hairs on the back of the neck stand up.
You may have an urge to urinate, open your bowels or vomit. This is the brain trying to lighten the load to move faster during 'flight'.
These changes are preparing the body for action. You are in a state of heightened awareness. All your senses are sharpened. Your hearing, sense of smell and your sight are all sharpened. Your body is primed and ready to go.
Your rapidly beating heart pumps extra blood to the muscles and brain. By breathing faster and deeper, more oxygen is transported by the blood to the muscles and brain. In addition blood is shunted away temporarily from other important organs such as the gut, the kidneys and the immune system to make more blood available to supply the muscles.
Although the fight and fright reaction is primeval and developed when early humans had to confront huge and dangerous reptiles and mammals, it is still present today. Unfortunately the brain cannot differentiate between real and percieved dangers or threats. The reaction is the same.
In all three scenarios above, the fight or fright reaction is triggered.
Panic attacks are severe episodes of the fight or fright reaction and, to the individual during an attack the threat or danger is very real. Rational thoughts go out the window and there is nothing to fight and no where to run to.
In stress, even though there is no threat to our lives, the fight or fright reaction is triggered and can harm the body. Persistent stress caqn cause disease.
Understanding how the fight or fright reaction is triggered in stress will help you make some sense about the symptoms of stress you experience with stress.